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WORDS OF OUR HERO 



ULYSSES S. GRANT 



EDITED BY 



JEREMIAH CHAPLIN 



" What I am I owe to my country.^* 



BOSTON 
D. LOTHROP AND COMPANY 

Franklin and Hawley Streets 



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ULYSSES S. GRANT 



Born, April 27, 1822 



Died, July 23, 1885 



WORDS OF OUR HERO 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

BORN, 1822. — ENTERED WEST POINT MILITARY ACADEJIY, 
1839. — LIEUTENANT IN THE ARMY, 1845.— IN THE MEXICAN 
WAR, 1846-1847. — CAPTAIN, 1847. — ENGAGED IN BUSINESS, 
1854. — CAPTAIN OF VOLUNTEERS, 1861. — COLONEL, JUNE 17, 
1861. — BRIGADIER-GENERAL, AUGUST 23, 1861. — COI^EVIAN- 
DER OF THE MnJTARY DISITIICT OF CAIRO, DECEMBER, 
1861. — TOOK FORT DONELSON, FEBRUARY 15, 1862. — COM- 
MANDER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF WESTERN TENNESSEE, 
JULY, 1862. — TOOK VICKSBURG, JULY 4, 1863. — MA JOR-GEN- 
ERAL, 1863. — COINLVIANDER OF THE MILITARY DISTRICT OF 
THE MISSISSIPPI, OCTOBER, 1863. — LIEUTENANT-GENERAL, 
MARCH 1, 1864. — ASSIBIED COIVOLAND OF THE ARMIES OF 
THE UNITED STATES, IVIARCH 17, 1864. — CAPTAIN-GENERAL, 
APRIL, 1865. — SECRETARY OF WAR "AD INTERIM," AUGUST 
12, 1867. — PRESIDENT, 1869-1877. 

[At the outbreak of the rebellion, 1861, he said to a friend] : 

The government has educated me for the army. 
Wliat I am, I owe to my country. I have seiTed 
her through one war, and, live or die, will serve 
her through this. — Phelps, 

[To the citizens of Paducah, Kentucky, September 6, 1861.] 

I have come among you not as an enemy, but 

as your fellow-citizen ; not to maltreat or annoy 

you, but to respect and enforce the rights of all 

loyal citizens. An enemy in rebellion against our 

7 



8 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

constitutional government has taken possession of, 
and planted its guns on the soil of Kentucky, and 
fired upon you. Columbus and Hickman are in 
his hands. He is moving upon your city. I am 
here to defend you against this enemy, to assert 
the authority and sovereignty of your government. 
I have nothing to do with opinions. I shall deal 
only with armed rebellion and its aiders and abet- 
tors. You can pursue your usual avocations 
without fear. The strong arm of the government 
is here to protect its friends, and punish its ene- 
mies. Whenever it is manifest that you are able 
to defend yourselves, and to maintain the authority 
of the government, and protect the rights of loyal 
citizens, I shall withdraw the forces under my 
command. 

[General Buckner, of the Confederate army at Fort Donel- 
son, having sent a letter to General Grant, February 16, 
1862, proposing *' the appointment of Commissioners, to 
agree upon terms of capitulation," General Grant re- 
plied the same day.]' 

Yours of this date proposing an armistice and 
the appointment of commissioners to settle on the 
terms of capitulation, is just received. 

No terms, except unconditional and immediate 
surrender, can be accepted. 

I propose to move immediately on your works. 
I am, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant. 



WORDS OF OUR HERO. 9 



[After Mr. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, General 
Grant issued the following order] : 

Milliken's Bend, Louisiana. 

Corps, division, and post commanders 

will afford all facilities for tlie completion of the 
neo-ro re<riments now orf^anizin^^ in this depart- 
ment. Commissioners will issue supplies, and 
quarter-masters will furnish stores, on the same 
requisitions and returns as are required for other 
troops. It is expected that all commanders will 
especially exert themselves in carrying out the 
policy of the Administration, not only in organiz- 
ino- colored resriments and rendering them efficient, 
but also in removing prejudices against them. 

[From a letter to General Banks, with reference to Vicks- 

bm-g, May 25, 1863.] 

I feel that my force is abundantly strong 

to hold the enemy where he is, or to whip him 
should he come out. The place is so strongly for- 
tified, however, that it cannot be taken without 
either a gi'eat sacrifice of life or by a regular siege. 
I have determined to adopt the latter course, and 
save my men. 



10 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



[To a proposition of General Pemberton, July 3, 18G3, for 
" an armistice for — hours, with a view to arrano:in2 
terms for the capitulation of Vicksburg, ... to save the 
further effusion of blood," General Grant replied the 
same day] : 

General : Your note of this date [July 3] 
just received proposes an armistice of several 
hours for the purpose of arranging terms of capitu- 
lation through commissioners to be appointed, etc. 
The effusion of blood you propose stopping by 
this course can be ended at any time you may 
choose, by an unconditional surrender of the city 
and garrison. Men who have shown so much en- 
durance and courage as those now in Vicksburg 
will also challenge the respect of an adversary, 
and, I can assure you, will be treated with all the 
respect due to them as prisoners of war. I do 
not favor the proposition of appointing commis- 
sioners to arrange terms of capitulation, because 
I have no other terms than those indicated above. 

I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient 
servant. 

On the afternoon of the same day (July 3) Gen. 
Pemberton sought an interview with Gen. Grant, 
and said : " General Grant, I meet you in order 
to arrange terms for the capitulation. What terms 
do you demand ? " 

" Unconditional surrender," was General Grant's 
reply. 



WORDS OF OUR HERO. 11 

Pemberton rejoined : " Unconditional surren- 
der ! Never, so long as I have a man left me. I 
will fight rather." 

General Grant replied, " Very well." 
On July 4, came the following from Pember- 
ton : " General, I have the honor to acknowledge 
the receipt of your communication of this date, 
and, in reply, to say that the terms proposed by 
you are accepted." 

[When recommending (1863) Sherman and McPherson for 
promotion to the rank of Brigadier-General in the reg- 
ular army, General Grant wrote] : 

" The first reason for this is their great fitness 
for any command that it may ever become neces- 
sary to intrust to them. Second, their great 
purity of character and disinterestedness in any- 
thing except the faithful performance of their duty 
and the success of every one engaged in the great 
battle for the preservation of the Union. Third, 
they have honorably won this distinction upon 
many well-fought battle-fields. The promotion of 
such men as Sherman and McPherson always adds 
strength to our army." 

[To a letter from Secretary Chase (July 4, 18G3) , 
in which he says ; " I find that a rigorous line 
within districts occupied by our military forces, 
from beyond which no cotton or other produce can 
be brought, and within which no trade can be 



12 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

carried on, gives rise to serious and to some 
apparently well-founded complaints." Gen. Grant 
replied] : 

My experience in West Tennessee has 

convinced me that any trade whatever with the 
rebel states is weakening to us of at least thirty- 
three per cent, of our force. No matter what the 
restrictions thrown around trade, if any whatever 
is allowed, it will be made the means of supplying 
the enemy with what they want. Restrictions, if 
lived up to, make trade unprofitable, and hence 
none but dishonorable men go into it. I will ven- 
ture to say that no honorable man has made money 
in Western Tennessee in the last year, while many 
fortunes have been made there during that time. 

The people in the Mississippi valley are now 
nearly subjugated. Keep trade out for a few 
months, and I doubt not that the work of subjuga- 
tion will be so complete, that trade can be opened 
freely with the States of Arkansas, Louisiana, and 
Mississippi ; that the people of these States will be 
more anxious for the enforcement and protection 
of our laws than the people of the loyal States. 
They have experienced the misfortune of being 
without them, and are now in a most happy con- 
dition to appreciate their blessings. 

No theory of my own will ever stand in the way 
of my executing, in good faith, any order I may 
receive from those in authority over me ; but my 



WOKDS OF OUK HERO. 13 

position has given me an opportunity of seeing 
what would not be known by persons away from 
the scene of war; and, I venture, therefore, to 
suggest great caution in opening trade with rebels. 

ViCKSBURG, July 11, 1863. 

"I am anxious to get as many of these negro 
regiments as possible, and to have them full, and 
completely equipped. ... I am particularly de- 
sirous of organizing a regiment of heavy artillery 
from the negroes, to garrison this place, and shall 
do so as soon as possible." 

ViCKSBURG, July 24. 

The negro troops are easier to preserve discipline 
among than our white troops, and I doubt not will 
prove equally good for garrison duty. All that 
have been tried have fought bravely. 

[In 1863, hearing that some negi'o troops in the service of 
the United States had been hung at Milliken's Bend, 
General Grant wrote to General Richard Taylor] : 

I feel no inclination to retaliate for the offences 
of irresponsible persons ; but if it is the policy of 
any General intrusted with the command of troops 
to show no quarter, or to punish with death pris- 
oners taken in battle, I will accept the issue. It 
may be you propose a different line of policy 
towards black troops, and officers conmianding 
them, to that practiced towards white troops. K 



14 UXYSSES S. GRANT. 

SO, I can assure you that these colored troops are 
regularly mustered into the service of the United 
States. The Government, and all officers under 
the Government, are bound to give the same pro- 
tection to these troops that they do to any other 
troops. 

General Orders, No. 50, Vicksburg, August 1, 1SG3. 

2. The citizens of Mississippi within 

the limits above described, are called upon to 
pursue their peaceful avocations, in obedience to 
the laws of the United States. Whilst doing so in 
good lliith, all the United States forces are pro- 
hibited from molesting them in any way. It is 
earnestly recommended that the freedom of negroes 
be acknowledged, and that, instead of compulsory 
labor, contracts on fair terms be entered into 
between the former masters and servants, or 
between the latter and other persons who may be 
willing to give them employment. Such a system 
as this, honestly followed, will result in substantial 
advantages to all parties. 

All private property will be respected, except 
when the use of it is necessary for the government, 
in which case it must be taken under the direction 
of a commissioned officer, with specific instructions 
to seize certain property, and no other. A staff 
officer of the Quartermaster of Subsistence Depart- 
ment will, m each instance, be designated to receipt 



WORDS OF OUK HEKO. 15 

for such property as may be seized, the property 
to be paid for at the end of the war on proof of 
loyalty, or on proper adjustment of the claim, 
under such regulations and laws as may hereafter 
be estabhshed. 

4. Within the county of Warren, laid 

waste by the long presence of contending armies, 
the following rules, to prevent suffering, will be 
observed: Major-General Sherman and Major- 
General McPherson will each nominate a Com- 
missary of Subsistence who will issue articles of 
prime necessity to all destitute families calling for 
them, under such restrictions for the protection of 
the government as they may deem necessary. 
Families who are able to pay for the provisions 
drawn, will in all cases be required to do so. 

[On August 25, 1863, General Grant visited Memphis, Ten- 
nessee. A committee of loyal citizens having tendered 
him the hospitality of the city, he sent a letter of ac- 
ceptance, in which he said] : 

In accepting this testimonial, which I do at a 
great sacrifice of my personal feelings, I simply 
desire to pay a tribute to the first pubhc exhibi- 
tion in ^lemphis of loyalty to the government which 
I represent in the Department of the Tennessee. 
I should dishke to refuse, for considerations of 
personal convenience, to acknowledge anywhere, or 
in any form, the existence of sentiments I have so 
long and so ardently desired to see manifested in 



16 ULYSSES S. GKANT. 

this department. The stability of this government 
and the unity of this nation depend solely on the 
cordial support and the earnest loyalty of the 
people. While, therefore, I thank you sincerely 
for the kind expressions you have used toward 
myself, I am profoundly gratified at this public 
recognition, in the city of Memphis, of the power 
and authority of the government of the United 
States. 

[In the Field, Chattanooga, Tenn., December 10, 1863. — 

Congratulatory Order.] 

The General commanding takes this opportu- 
nity of returning his smcere thanks and congratu- 
lations to the brave armies of the Cumberland, the 
Ohio, and the Tennessee, and theii comrades from 
the Potomac, for their recent splendid and decisive 
successes achieved over the enemy. In a short 
time you have recovered from him the control of 
the Tennessee Kiver, from Bridgeport to Knox- 
ville. You dislodged him from his great stronghold 
upon Lookout Mountain, drove him from Chatta- 
nooga Valley, wrested from his determined grasp 
the possession of Missionary Eidge, repelled, with 
heavy loss to him, his repeated assaults upon 
Knoxville, forcing him to raise the siege there ; 
driving him at all points, utterly routed and dis- 
comfited, beyond the limits of the State. By 
your noble heroism and determined courage 
you have most eflfectually defeated the plans of 



WORDS OF OCTR HERO. 17 

the enemy for regaining possession of the States 
of Kentucky and Tennessee. You have secured 
positions from which no rebellious power can 
drive or dislodge you. For all this, the General 
commanding thanks you, collectively and individ- 
ually. The loyal people of the United States 
thank and bless you. Their hopes and prayers 
for your success against this unholy rebellion are 
with you daily. Their faith in you will not be in 
vain. Their hopes will not be blasted. Their 
prayers to Almighty God will be answered. You 
will yet go to other fields of strife, and with the in- 
vincible bravery and unflinching loyalty to justice 
and right which have characterized you in the past, 
you will prove that no enemy can withstand you, 
and that no defence, however formidable, can 
check your onward march. 

In the Wilderness, Head-quarters in the Field, > 

May 11, 1864, 8 a. m. 3 

We have now ended the sixth day of very 
heavy fighting. The result, to this time, is very 
much in our favor. Our losses have been heavy, 
as have been those of the enemy. I think the 
losses of the enemy must be greater. 

We have taken over five thausand prisoners by 
battle, while he has taken from us but few, except 
stragglers. 

I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes 
all summer. 



18 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

City Point, Virginia, August 16, 1864. 

To Hon. E. B. Washbuene. 

Dear Sir : I state to all citizens who visit me, 
that all we want now to insure an early restora- 
tion of the Union is a determined unity of senti- 
ment North. The rebels have now in their ranks 
their last man. The little boys and old men are 
guarding prisoners, grading railroad bridges, and 
forming a good part of their garrisons for en- 
trenched positions. A man lost by them cannot 
be replaced. They have robbed the cradle and 
the grave equally to get their present force. Be- 
sides what they lose in frequent skirmishes and 
battles, they are now losing from desertion and 
other causes at least one regiment per day. 

With this drain upon them the end is not far 
distant, if we will only be true to ourselves. Their 
only hope now is in a divided North. This might 
give them re-enforcements from Tennessee, Ken- 
tucky, Maryland, and Missouri, while it would 
weaken us. With the draft quickly enforced the 
enemy would become despondent, and would make 
but little resistance. I have no doubt but the 
enemy are exceedingly anxious to hold out until 
after the presidential election. They have many 
hopes from its effects. 

They hope a counter revolution ; they hope the 
election of the Peace candidate. In fact, like 



WOEDS OF OUE HEEO. 19 

" Micawber," they hope for something to " turn 
up." Our Peace friends, if they expect peace 
from separation, are much mistaken. It would be 
but the beginning of war with thousands of 
Northern men joining the South because of our 
disgrace in allowing separation. To have " peace 
on any terms," the South would demand the res- 
toration of their slaves already freed ; they would 
demand indemnity for losses sustained ; and they 
would demand a treaty which would make the 
r^orth slave-hunters for the South. They would 
demand pay for the restoration of every slave es- 
caping to the North. 

[Address to all the armies.] 

Washington, June 2, 1865. 

Soldiers of the Aemies of the United 
States : By your patriotic devotion to your coun- 
try in the hour of danger and alarm, your mag- 
nificent fighting, bravery, and endurance, you 
have maintained the supremacy of the Union and 
the Constitution, overthrown all armed opposition to 
the enforcement of the law, and of the proclamation 
forever abolishing slavery, — the cause and pre- 
cept of the rebellion, — and opened the way to 
the rightful authorities to restore order and inaug- 
urate peace on a permanent and enduring basis on 
every foot of American soil. Your marches, 
sieges, and battles, in distance, duration, resolu- 



20 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

tion, and brilliancy of results, dim the lustre of 
the world's past military achievements, and will be 
the patriot's precedent in defence of liberty and 
right in all time to come. In obedience to your 
country's call you left your homes and families, 
and volunteered in its defence. Victory has 
crowned your valor, and secured the purpose of 
your patriotic hearts ; and with the gratitude of 
your countrymen, and the highest honors a great 
and free nation can accord, you will soon be per- 
mitted to return to your homes and families con- 
scious of having discharged the highest duty of 
American citizens. To achieve these glorious 
triumphs, and secure to yourselves, your fellow- 
countrymen, and posterity, the blessings of free 
institutions, tens of thousands of your gallant 
comrades have fallen and sealed the priceless 
legacy with their lives. The graves of these a 
grateful nation bedews with tears, honors their 
memories, and will ever cherish and support their 
stricken families. 

[From the Report of the Operations of the Armies of the 
United States, 1864-'65.] 

Washington, July 22, 1865. 

..... From an early period of the rebelhon 
I had been impressed with the idea that active and 
continuous operations of all the troops that could 
be brought into the field, regardless of season and 

20 



WORDS OF OUK HEEO. 21 

weather, were necessary to a speedy termination 
of the war. The resources of the enemy and his 
numerical strength were far inferior to ours ; but, 
as an offset to this, we had a vast territory with a 
population hostile to the government to garrison, 
and Ions: lines of river and railroad communica- 
tions to protect, to enable us to supply the oper- 
ating armies. 

The armies in the East and West acted inde- 
pendently and without concert, like a balky team, 
no two ever pulling together, enabling the enemy 
to use to great advantage his interior lines of com- 
munication for transporting troops from East to 
West, re-enforcing the army most vigorously 
pressed, and to furlough large numbers, during 
seasons of inactivity on our part, to go to their 
homes and do the work of producing for the sup- 
port of their armies. It was a question whether 
our numerical strength and resources were not 
more than balanced by these disadvantages and 
the enemy's superior position. 

Erom the first I was firm in the conviction that 
no peace could be had that would be stable and 
conducive to the happiness of the people, both 
North and South, until the military power of the 
rebellion was entirely broken. 

I therefore determined, first, to use the greatest 
number of troops practicable against the anncd 
force of the enemy; preventing him from using 



22 ULYSSES S. GEANT. 

tlie same force at different seasons against first 
one and then another of our armies, and the possi- 
bility of repose for refitting and producing neces- 
sary supplies for carrying on resistance. Second, 
to hammer continuously against the armed force 
of the enemy and his resources, until by mere at- 
trition, if in no other way, there should be nothing 
left to him but an equal submission with the loyal 
section of our common country to the Constitu- 
tion and laws of the land. 

• • • • • • 

It has been my fortune to see the armies of both 
the West and East fight battles, and from what I 
have seen I know there is no difference in their 
fighting quahties. All that it was possible for men 
to do in battle they have done. The Western 
armies commenced their battles in the Mississippi 
Valley, and received the final surrender of the 
remnant of the principal army opposed to them in 
North Carolina. The armies of the East com- 
menced their battles on the river from which the 
Army of the Potomac derived its name, and 
received the final surrender of their old antao:onist 
at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The 
splendid achievements of each have rationalized 
our victories, removed all sectional jealousies, (of 
which we have unfortunately experienced too 
much,) and the cause of crimination and recrimi- 
nation that might have followed had either section 



WORDS OF OUR HERO. 23 

failed in its duty. All have a proud record, and 
all sections can well congratulate themselves and 
each other for having done their full share in 
restoring the supremacy of law over every foot of 
territory belonging to the United States. Let 
them hope for perpetual peace and harmony with 
that enemy, whose manhood, however mistaken 
the cause, drew forth such herculean deeds of valor. 

[When, August 17, 1867, President Jolinson ordered Gen- 
eral Grant to remove from command at New Orleans 
General Sheridan, and at the same time asked him to 
make suggestions in regard to the order, General Grant 
replied] : 

I am pleased to avail myself of this invitation 
to urge, earnestly urge, in the name of a patriotic 
people who have sacrificed hundreds of thousands 
of loyal lives, and thousands of millions of treasure, 
to preserve the integrity and union of this country, 
that this order be not insisted on. It is unmis- 
takably the expressed wish of the country that 
General Sheridan should not be removed from his 
present command. 

This is a republic where the will of the people 
is the law of the land. I beg that their voice may 
be heard. 

General Sheridan has performed his civil duties 
faithfully and intelligently. His removal will only 
be regarded as an effort to defeat the laws of 
Congress. 



24 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



[During the suspension, for political reasons, of Mr. Stanton 
as Secretary of War, by President Johnson, General 
Grant was appointed Secretary of War, ad interim. 
When the Senate, January 13, 1868, passed a resolution 
of non-concurrence with the suspension, General Grant 
immediately surrendered the keys of the office, which 
offended Mr. Johnson. A correspondence between them 
ensued. General Grant's closing letter is as follows] : 

The course you understood I agreed to pursue 
was in violation of law, and that without orders 
from you; while the course I did pursue, and 
which I never doubted you fully understood, was 
in accordance with law, and not in disobedience 
of any orders of my superior. 

And now, Mr. President, when my honor as a 
soldier, and integrity as a man, have been so 
violently assailed, pardon me for saying that I can 
but regard this whole matter, from beginning to 
end, as an attempt to involve me in the resistance 
*of law for which you hesitated to assume the 
responsibility, in order thus to destroy my char- 
acter before the country. I am in a measure 
confirmed in this conclusion by your recent orders 
directing me to disobey orders from the Secretary 
of War, my superior, and your subordinate, with- 
out having countermanded his authority. I con- 
clude with the assurance, Mr. President, that 
nothing less than a vindication of my personal 
honor and character could have induced this cor- 
respondence on my part. 



WORDS OF OUR HERO. 25 

[From his Inaugural Address, March 4, 1869.] 

Citizens of the United States ; Your suffrages 
having elected me to the office of President of the 
United States, I have, in conformity with the Con- 
stitution of our country, taken the oath of office 
prescribed therein. I have taken this oath without 
mental reservation, and with a determination to 
do, to the best of my ability, all that it requires 
of me. 

The responsibilities of the position I feel, but 
accept them without fear. The office has come to 
me unsought; I commence its duties untram- 
melled. I bring to it a conscious desire and deter- 
mination to fill it, to the best of my abihty, to the 
satisfaction of the people. On all leading ques- 
tions agitating the pubKo mind I will always ex- 
press my views to Congress, and urge them accord- 
ing to my judgment, and when I think it ad\dsable, 
will exercise the constitutional privilege of inter- 
posing a veto to defeat measures which I oppose. 
But all laws will be faithfully executed, whether 
they meet my approval or not. 

I shall on all subjects have a policy to recom- 
mend, none to enforce against the will of the peo- 
ple. Laws are to govern all ahke — those oj3posed 
to as well as those in flivor of them. I know no 
method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious 
laws so effectual as their strict execution 



26 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

A great debt has been contracted in securing to 
us and our posterity the Union. The payment 
of this, principal and interest, as well as the re- 
turn to a specie basis as soon as it can be accora- 
phshed without material detriment to the debtor 
class or to the country at large, must be provided 
for. To protect the national honor, every dollar 
of the government indebtedness should be paid in 
gold, unless otherwise especially stipulated in the 
contract. Let it be understood that no repudia- 
tion of one farthing of our public debt will be 
trusted in public places, and it will go far towards 
strengthening a credit which ought to be the best 
in the world, and will ultimately enable us to re- 
place the debt with bonds bearing less interest 
than we now pay. 

[From a Message, December, 1870.] 

As soon as I learned that a Eepublic had 

been proclaimed at Paris, and the people of France 
had acquiesced in the change, the minister of the 
United States was directed by telegraph to recog- 
nize it, and to tender my congratulations and those 
of the people of the United States. The re-estab- 
lishment in France of a system of government dis- 
connected with the dynastic traditions of Europe 
appeared to be a proper subject for the felicitations 
of Americans. Should the present struggle result in 
attacliino: the hearts of the French to our simpler 



WORDS OF OUR HERO. 27 

form of representative government, it will be a sub- 
ject of still further satisfaction to our people. While 
we make no effort to impose our institutions upon 
the inhabitants of other countries, and while we 
adhere to our traditional neutrahty in civil contests 
elsewhere, we cannot be indiiferent to the spread 
of American political ideas in a great and highly 
civilized country like France. 

[From a Message, December, 1871.] 

In Utah there still remains a remnant of 

barbarism repugnant to civilization, to decency, 
and to the laws of the United States. . . . Neither 
polygamy nor any other violation of existing stat- 
utes will be permitted within the territory of the 
United States. It is not with the religion of the 
self-styled Saints that we are now dealing, but 
with their practices. They will be protected in 
the worship of God according to the dictates of 
their own consciences, but they will not be per- 
mitted to violate the laws under the cloak of reli- 
gion. 

[From a Message, December 7, 1875.] 

As we are now about to enter upon our 

second centennial — commenchig our manhood as 
a nation — it is well to look back upon the past, 
and study what will be best to preserve and ad- 
vance our future greatness 

We should look to the dangers threatening us, 



28 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

and remove them as far as lies in our power. We 
are a republic whereof one man is as good as an- 
other before the law. Under such a form of gov- 
ernment, it is of the greatest importance that all 
should be possessed of education and intelligence 
enough to cast a vote with a right understanding 
of its meaning. A large association of ignorant 
men cannot, for any considerable period, oppose a 
successful resistance to tyranny and oppression 
from the educated few, but will inevitably sink into 
acquiescence to the will of intelligence, whether 
directed by the demagogue or by priestcraft. 
Hence the education of the masses becomes of the 
first necessity for the preservation of our institu- 
tions. They are worth preserving, because they 
have secured the greatest good to the greatest pro- 
portion of the population of any form of govern- 
ment yet devised. All other forms of government 
approach it in proportion to the general diffusion 
of education and independence of thought and ac- 
tion. As the principal step, therefore, to our 
advancement in all that has marked our progress 
in the past century, I suggest for your earnest con- 
sideration, and most earnestly recommend it, that 
a constitutional amendment be submitted to the 
leo-islatures of the several States for ratification, 
making it the duty of each of the several States 
to establish and forever maintain free pubho 
schools adequate to the education of aU the chil- 



WORDS OF OUR HERO. 29 

dren in the riidimentaiy branches within their re- 
spective limits, irrespective of sex, color, birthplace 
or religions ; forbidding the teaching in said schools 
of religious, atheistic, or pagan tenets ; and pro- 
hibiting the granting of any school funds or school 
taxes, or any part thereof, either by legislative, 
municipal, or other authority, for the benefit or in 
aid, directly or indirectly, of any religious sect or 
denomination, or in aid or for the benefit of any 
other object of any nature or kind whatever. 



[Fi'om a Speech at the Annual Reunion of the Army of the 
Tennessee, at Des Moines, Iowa, September 29, 1875.] 

Comrades : It always aflTords me much gratifi- 
cation to meet my old comrades in arms of ten or 
fourteen years ago, and to live over again in mem- 
ory the trials and hardships of those days — hard- 
ships imposed for the preservation and perpetuation 
of our free institutions. We believed then, and 
believe now, that we had a good government, worth 
fighting for, and, if need be, dying for. How many 
of our comrades of those days paid the latter price 
for our preserved Union ! Let their heroism and 
sacrifices be ever green and in our memory. Let 
not the results of their sacrifices be destroj^ed. 
The Union and the free institutions for which 
they fell, should be held more dear for their sacri- 
fices. We will not deny to any of those who 



30 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

fought against us any privileges under the govern- 
ment which we claim for ourselves ; on the contra- 
ry, we honor all such who come forward in good 
faith to help build up the waste places, and to per- 
petuate our institutions against all enemies, as 
brothers in full interest with us in a common heri- 
tage ; but we are not prepared to apologize for the 
part we took in the war. It is to be hoped that 
like trials will never again befall our country. In 
this sentiment no class of people can more heartily 
join than the soldier, who submitted to the dangers, 
trials, and hardships of the camp and the battle- 
field. On whichever side they may have fought, 
no class of people are more interested in guarding 
against a recurrence of those days. 

Let us then begin by guarding against every 
enemy threatening the perpetuity of free republican 
institutions. I do not bring into this assemblage 
politics, certainly not partisan politics ; but it is a 
fair subject for soldiers in their deliberations to 
consider what may be necessary to secure the prize 
for which they battled in a repubhc like ours. 
Where the citizen is sovereign and the official the 
servant, where no power is exercised except by the 
will of the people, it is important that the sover- 
eign — the people — should possess intelligence. 

The free school is the promoter of that intelli- 
gence which is to preserve us as a free nation. If 
we are to have another contest in the near future 



WORDS OF OUR HERO. 31 

of our national existence, I predict that the divid- 
ing line will not be IMason and Dixon's, but between 
patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and 
superstition, ambition, and ignorance on the other. 
Now in this centennial year of our national exist- 
ence, I believe it a good time to begin the work of 
strensTthenino: the foundation of the house com- 
menced by our patriotic forefathers one hundred 
years ago, at Concord and Lexington. Let us 
all labor to add all needful guarantees for the 
more perfect security of free thought, free speech, 
and free press, pure morals, unfettered religious 
sentiments, and of equal rights and privileges to 
all men, irrespective of nationality, color, or re- 
ligion. Encourage free schools, and resolve that 
not one dollar of money appropriated to their 
support, no matter how raised, shall be appro- 
priated to the support of any sectarian school. 
Resolve that the State or Nation, or both combined, 
shall furnish to every child growing up in the land, 
the means of acquiring a good common-school edu- 
cation, unmixed with sectarian, pagan, or atheistic 
tenets. Leave the matter of religion to the family 
altar, the church, and the private school support- 
ed entirely by private contributions. Keep the 
church and state forever separate. With these 
safeofuards, I believe the battles which created the 
Army of the Tennessee will not have been fought 
in vain. 



32 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



[From a I^etter explanatory of a passage in the above 

Speech.] 

I feel no hostility to free education going as 
high as the state or national government feels able 
to provide, protecting, however, every child in 
the privilege of a common-school education be- 
fore public means are applied to a higher educa- 
tion for the few. 

[From a Message.] 

In a former Message to Congress I had occasion 
to consider this question, [the recognition of bel- 
ligerent rights,] and reached the conclusion that 
the conflict in Cuba, dreadful and devastatmg as 
were its incidents, did not rise to tlie fearful dig- 
nity of war. 

[From a Message, December, 1876.] 

. . , . . The compulsory support of the free 
schools, and the disfranchisement of all who can- 
not read and write the English language, after a 
fixed probation, would meet my hearty approval. 



* 



[Veto Message of the Senate Currency Bill.] 

I am not a believer in any artificial method of 
making paper money equal to coin when the coin 

* He would not have this action retrospective. It should 
apply only to future votei*s. 



WORDS OF OUR HERO. 33 

is not owned or held ready to redeem the promise 
to pay, for paper money is notliing more than 
promises to pay. 

[From a Speech at a banquet in the Town-hall, Birming- 
ham, October 17.] 

He [Mr. Chamberlain, M. P.] alluded 

to the great merit of retiring a large army at the 
close of a great war. If he had ever been in my 
position for four years, and undergone all the 
anxiety and care that I had in the management 
of those large armies, he would appreciate how 
happy I was to be able to say that they could be 
dispensed with. I disclaim all credit and praise 
for doing that one thing. . . . Further, we 
Americans claim to be so much of Englishmen, 
and to have so much general intelligence, and so 
much personal independence and individuality, 
that we do not quite believe that it is possible for 
any one man there to assume any more right and 
authority than the constitution of the land gave to 
him. Among the English-speaking people we do 
not think these things possible. We can fight among 
ourselves, and dispute and abuse each other, but 
we will not allow ourselves to be abused outside ; 
nor will those who look on at our little personal 
quarrels in our own midst permit us to interfere 
with their own ri^fhts. — Ar'ound the World with 
General Grant, by John Kussell Young. 



34 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

[From a Speech, in reply to an Address on behalf of the 
International Arbitration Union, Birmingham.] 

I am conscientiously, and have been 

from the beo^innino:, an advocate of what the so- 
ciety represented by you is seeldng to carry out ; 
and nothing would afford me greater happiness 
than to know, as I believe will be the case, that, 
at some future day, the nations of the earth will 
agree upon some sort of Congress, which shall 
take cognizance of international questions of diffi- 
culty, and whose decisions will be as binding as 
the decision of our Supreme Court is binding on 
us. It is a dream of mine that some such solution 
may be found for all questions of great difficjulty 
that may arise between different nations. In one 
of the addresses reference was made to the dismis- 
sal of the army to the pursuit of peaceful industry. 
I would gladly see the millions of men w^ho are 
now supported by the industry of the nations re- 
turn to industrial pursuits, and thus become self- 
sustaining, and take off the tax upon labor which 
is now levied for their support. — Around the. 
World * 

[la reply to an Address of the Iron-Founders' Society, 

July 3, 1877.] 

I recomize the fact that whatever there 

is of greatness in the United States, or indeed in 
any other country, is due to the labor performed. 



WORDS OF OUR HERO. 35 

The laborer is the author of all greatness and 
wealth. Without labor there would be no govern- 
ment, or no leading class, or nothing to preserve. 
With us labor is regarded as highly respectable. 
— Arou7id the World. 

[At a Umch in the Guild hall, London, June 16, 1877. After 
having spoken once before, he said] : 

Habits formed in early life and early education 
press upon us as we grow older. I am not aware 
that I ever fought two battles on the same day m 
the same place, and that I should be called upon 
to make two speeches on the same day under the 
same roof is beyond my understanding. What I 
do understand is, that I am much indebted to all 
of you for the compliments you have paid me. 
All I can do is to thank the Lord Mayor for his 
kind words, and to thank the citizens of Great 
Britain here present in the name of my country 
and for myself. 

[Later in the day, at a dinner in the Crystal Palace Mr. 

Thomas Hughes proposed the health of General Giant, 

adding that he did not impose the burden of a reply. 

General Grant, however, said] : 

My. Hughes, I must none the less tell you what 
m^atification it gives me to hear my health pro- 
posed in such hearty words by Tom Brown, of 
Euo-by. — Arou7id the World. 



36 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



[A Speech at a dinner-party at Hamburg, of American la- 
dies and gentlemen, July 4, 1878.] 

Mr. Consul and Friends : I am mucli obliged 
to you for the Idnd manner in wliich you drink my 
health. I share with you in all the pleasure and 
latitude which Americans so far from home should 
feel on this anniversary. But I must dissent from 
one remark of our consul, to the effect that I saved 
the country during the recent war. K our country 
could be saved or ruined by the efforts of any one 
man we should not have a country, and we should 
not be now celebrating our Fourth of July. There 
are many men who would have done far better 
than I did under the circumstances in which I 
found myself during the war. If I had never held 
command ; if I had fallen ; if all our generals had 
fallen, there were ten thousand behind us who 
would have done our work just as well, who would 
have followed the contest to the end, and never 
surrendered the Union. Therefore it is a mistake, 
and a reflection upon the people, to attribute to 
me, or to any number of men who held high com- 
mand, the salvation of the Union. We did our 
work as well as we could, and so did hundreds of 
thousands of others. We deserve no credit for it, 
for we should have been unworthy of our country 
and of the American name, if we had not made 
every sacrifice to save the Union. What saved 

21 



WORDS OF OUR HERO. 37 

the Union was the coming forward of the young 
men of the nation. They came from their homes 
and fields, as they did in the time of the Revolu- 
tion, giving everything to the country. To their 
devotion we owe the salvation of the Union. The 
humblest soldier who carried a musket is entitled 
to as much credit for the results of the war as 
those who were in command. So long as our 
young men are animated by tliis spirit there will 
be no fear for the Union. — Arouyid the World, 

With a people as honest and proud as the Am- 
ericans, and with so much common-sense, it is 
always a mistake to do a thing not entirely right 
for the sake of expediency. — Around the World, 

When I was in the army I had a physique that 
could stand anything. Whether I slept on the 
ground or in a tent, whether I slept one hour or 
ten in the twenty-four, whether I had one meal 
or three, or none, made no difference. I could lie 
down and sleep in the rain without caring. But I 
was many years younger, and I could not hope to 
do that now. — Ai'ound the World. 

The only eyes a general can trust are his own. 
— Arou7id the World, 

I never saw the President [Lincoln] until he 
gave me my commission as Lieutenant-general. 



38 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

Afterwards I saw him often, either in Washington 
or at head-quarters. Lincoln, I may almost say, 
spent the last days of his life with me. I often 
recall those days. He came down to City Point 
in the last month of the war, and was with me all 
the timCi He lived on a dispatch-boat in the 
river, but was always around head-quarters. He 
was a fine horseman, and rode my horse Cincin- 
nati. He visited the different camps, and I did all 
I could to mterest him. He was very anxious 
about the war closing ; was afraid we could not 
stand a new campaign, and wanted to be around 
when the crash came. 

I have no doul)t that Lincoln will be the con- 
spicuous figure of the war ; one of the great figures 
of liistory. He was a great man, a very great 
man. The more I saw of him, the more this im- 
pressed me. He was incontestably the greatest 
man I ever knew. What marked liim especially 
was his sincerity, his kindness, his clear insight 
into affairs. Under all this he had a firm will, 
and a clear policy. People used to say that 
Seward swayed him, or Chase, or Stanton. This 
was a mistake. He might appear to go Seward's 
way one day, and Stanton's another, but all the 
time he was going his own course, and they with 
him. It was that gentle firmness in carrying out 
his own will, without apparent force or friction, 
that formed the basis of his character. He was a 



WORDS OF OUR HERO. 



39 



wonderful talker and teller of stories. It is said 
his stories were improper. I have heard of them, 
but I never heard Lincoln use an improper word 
or phrase. I have sometimes, when I hear liis 
memory called in question, tried to recall such a 
thing, but I cannot. I always found him pre- 
eminently, a clean-minded man. I regard these 
stories as exaggerations. Lincoln's power of il- 
lustration, his humor, was inexhaustible. He had 
a story or an illustration for GYGYjildng,— Around 
the World, 

I would deal with nations as equitable law re- 
quires individuals to deal with each other. 

I knew Stonewall Jackson at West Point and in 
Mexico. At West Point he came into the school 
at an older age than the average, and began with a 
low grade. But he had so much courage and 
energy, worked so hard, and governed his life by 
a discipline so stern, that he steadily worked his 
way along and rose far above others who had more 
advantages. Stonewall Jackson at West Point 
was in a state of constant improvement. He was 
a religious man then, and some of us regarded him 
as a fanatic. Sometimes his religion took strange 
forms— hypochondria— fancies that an Evil Spirit 
had taken possession of him. But he never re- 
laxed in his studies or his Christian duties. I 
knew him in Mexico. He was always a brave and 



40 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

trustworthy officer, — none more so in the army, I 
never knew him or encountered him in the rebellion. 
I question whether his campaigns in Virginia justify 
his reputation as a great commander. He was 
killed too soon, and before his rank allowed him 
a great command. It would have been a test of 
generalship if Jackson had met Sheridan in the 
Valley, instead of some of the men he did meet. 
From all I know of Jackson, and all I see of his 
campaigns, I have little doubt of the result. If 
Jackson had attempted on Sheridan the tactics he 
attempted so successfully upon others he would 
not only have been beaten but destroyed. Sudden 
daring raids, under a fine general like Jackson, 
might do against raw troops and inexperienced 
commanders, such as we had in the beofinninof of 
the war, but not against drilled troops and a com- 
mander like Sheridan. The tactics for which 
Jackson is famous, and which achieved such re- 
markable results, belonged entirely to the beginning 
of the war and to the peculiar conditions under 
w^hich the earlier battles were fought. They would 
have ensured destruction to any commander who 
tried them upon Sherman, Thomas, Sheridan, 
Meade, or, in fact, any of our great generals. 
Consequently Jackson's fame as a general depends 
upon achievements gained before his generalship 
was tested, before he had a chance of matching 
himself with a really great commander. No doubt 



WORDS OF OUR HERO. 41 

SO able and patient a man as Jackson, wlio •worked 
so hard at anything he attempted, would have 
adapted himself to new conditions and risen with 
them. He died before his opportunity. I always 
respected Jackson personally, and esteemed his 
sincere and manly character. He impressed me 
always as a man of the Cromwell stamp, a Puri- 
tan — much more of the New Englander than the 
Virginian. If any man believed in the rebellion, 
he did. And his nature was such that whatever 
he believed in became a deep religious duty, a 
duty he would discharge at any cost. It is a 
mistake to suppose that I ever had any feeling for 
Stonewall Jackson but respect. Personally we 
were alwaj^s good friends ; his character had rare 
points of merit, and although he made the mistake 
of fighting against his country, if ever a man did 
so conscientiously, he was the man. — Around the 
World. 

The war, when it broke out, found me relieved 
from the army, and engaged in my father's business 
in Galena, IlKnois. A company of volunteers 
were formed under the first call of the President. 
I had no position in the company, but having had 
military experience I agreed to go with the com- 
pany to Springfield, the capital of the State, and 
assist in drill. IVlien I reached Springfield I was 
assigned to duty in the Adjutant's Department, and 



42 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

did a good share of the detail work. I had had 
experience in Mexico. As soon as the work of 
mustering-in was over, I asked Gov. Gates for a 
week's leave of absence to visit my parents in 
Covington. The Governor gave me the leave. 
While I wanted to pay a visit home, I was also 
anxious to see McClellan. McClellan was then in 
Cincinnati in command. He had been appointed 
Major-General in the regular army. I was de- 
lighted with the appointment. I knew McClellan 
and had OTcat confidence in him. I have, for that 
matter, never lost my respect for McClellan's 
character, nor my confidence in his loyalty and 
ability. I saw in him the man who was to pilot us 
through, and I wanted to be on his staff. I 
thouo'ht that if he would make me a major, or 
a lieutenant-colonel, I could be of use, and I 
wanted to be with him. So when I came to Cin- 
cinnati I went to the head-quarters. Several of 
the staff officers were friends I had known in the 
army. I asked one of them if the General was 
in. I was told he had just gone out, and was 
asked to take a seat. Everybody was so busy 
that they could not say a word. I waited a 
couple of hours. I never saw such a busy crowd — 
so many men at an army head-quarters with quills 
behind their ears. But I supposed it was all right, 
and was much encouraged by their industry. It 
was a great comfort to see the men so busy with 



wouds of our hero. 43 

the quills. Finally, after a long wait, I told an 
officer that I would come in again next day, and 
requested him to tell McClellan that I had called. 
Next day I came in. The same story. The 
general had just gone out, might be in at any 
moment. Would I wait? I sat and waited for 
two hours, watching the officers with their quills, 
and left. . . . McClellan never acknowledged my 
call, and, of course, after he knew I had been at 
his head-quarters I was bound to await his ac- 
knowledgment. I was older, had ranked him in 
the army, and could not hang around his head- 
quarters watching the men with the quills behind 
their ears. I went over to make a visit to an old 
army friend, Eeynolds, and while there learned 
that Governor Gates, of Illinois, had made me a 
colonel of volunteers. Still I should like to have 
joined McClellan. 

This pomp and ceremony was common at the 
beo-inninc: of the war. McClellan had three times 
as many men with quills behind their ears as I had 
ever found necessary at the head-quarters of a much 
larirer command. Fremont had as much state as a 
Sovereign, and was as difficult to approach. His 
headquarters alone required as much transporta- 
tion as a division of troops. I was under his com- 
mand a part of the time, and remember how impos- 
ing: was his manner of doins; business. He sat in a 
room in full uniform, with his maps before him. 



44 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

When you went in, lie would point out one line or 
another in a mysterious manner, never asking you 
to take a seat. You left without the least idea of 
what he meant or what he wanted you to do. 

..... McClellan is to me one of the mysteries 
of the war. As a young man he was always a mys- 
tery. He had the way of inspiring you with the 
idea of immense capacity, if he would only have a 
chance. Then he is a man of unusual accomplish- 
ments, a student and a well-read man. I have never 
studied his campaigns enough to make up my mind 
as to his military skill, but all my impressions are 
in his favor. I have entke confidence in McClellan's 
loyality and patriotism. But the test which was 
applied to him would be terrible to any man, being 
made a major-general at the beginning of the war. 
It has always seemed to me that the critics of Mc- 
Clellan do not consider this vast and cruel responsi- 
l)ility — the war a new thing to all of us, the army 
new, everything to do from the outset, with a rest- 
less people and Congress. McClellan was a young 
man when this devolved upon him, and if he did 
not succeed, it was because the conditions of suc- 
cess were so trying. If McClellan had gone into the 
war as did Sherman, Thomas, or Meade, had fought 
his way along and up, I have no reason to suppose 
he would not have now as high a distinction as any 
of us. McClellan's main blunder was in allowing 
himself political sympathies, and in permitting him- 



WORDS OF OUR HERO. 45 

self to become the critic of the President, and in 
time his rival. This is shown in his letter to INIr. 
Lincoln on his return to Harrison's Landing, when 
he sat down and ^vrote out a policy for the govern- 
ment. He was forced into this b}^ his associations, 
and that led to his nomination for the presidency. 
I remember how disappointed I was about this let- 
ter, and also in his failure to destroy Lee at Antie- 
tam. His friends say that he failed because of the in- 
terference from Washington- I am afraid the inter- 
ference from Washinsftonwas not from Mr. Lincoln 
so much as from the enemies of the administration, 
wdio believed they could carry their point through 
the army of the Potomac. My own experience with 
Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Stanton, both in the western 
and eastern armies, was the reverse. I was never 
interfered with. I had the fullest support of the 
President and Secretary of War. No general could 
want better backing, for the President was a man 
of great wisdom and moderation, the Secretary a 
man of enormous character and will. Very often 
where Lincoln would want to say Yes, his Secretary 
w^ould make him say No ; and more frequently when 
the Secretary was driving on in a violent course, the 
President would check him. United, Lincoln and 
Stanton made about as perfect a combination as I 
believe could, by any possibility, govern a great 
nation in time of war. — Around the World, 



/» 



46 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

A o-eneral who will never take a chance in a bat- 
tie will never fight one. — Around the World, 

Sherman is not only a great soldier, but a great 
man. He is one of the very great men in our 
country's history. He is a many-sided man. He 
Is an orator with few superiors. As a writer he is 
among the first. As a general I know of no man 
I would put above him. Above all, he has a fine 
character — so frank, so sincere, so outspoken, so 
genuine. There is not a false line in Sherman's 
character — nothing to regret 

The march to the sea was proposed by me in a 
letter to Halleck before I left the Western army ; 
my objective pomt was Mobile. It was not a sud- 
den inspiration, but a logical move in the game. 
It was the next thing to be done. We had gone 
so far into the South that we had to go to the sea. 
We could not go anywhere else, for we were cer- 
tainly not going back. The details of the march, 
the conduct, the whole glory belong to Sherman. 
I never thought much as to the origin of the idea. 
I presume it grew up in correspondence with 
Sherman ; that it took shape as those things always 
do. Sherman is a man with so many resources 
and a mind so fertile, that once an idea takes root 
it grows rapidly. My objection to Sherman's plan 
at the time, and my objection now, was his leaving 
Hood's army in the rear. I always wanted the 



WOEDS OF OUR HEEO. 47 

march to the sea, but at the same time I wanted 
Hood. — A.round the Woi^ld, 

[From his Speech in London, when presented with the free- 
dom of the city, June 15, 1877.] 

Although a soldier by education and profession, 
I have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and I 
have never advocated it except as a means of peace. 
— Around the World, 

I was never more delighted at anything than the 
close of the war. I never liked service in the 
army — not as a young officer. I did not want to 
go to West Point. My appointment was an acci- 
dent, and my father had to use his authority to 
make me go. If I could have escaped West Point 
without bringing myself into disgrace at home, I 
would have done so. I remember about the time 
I entered the Academy there were debates in Con- 
gress over a proposal to abolish West Point. I 
used to look over the papers and read the Congress 
reports with eagerness to see the progress the bill 
made, and hoping to hear that the school had been 
abolished, and that I could go home to my father 
without being in disgrace. I never went into a 
battle willingly or with enthusiasm. I was always 
glad when a battle was over. I never want to 
command another army. I take no interest in 
armies. When the Duke of Cambridge asked me 
to review his troops at Aldershot, I told liis Eoyal 



48 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

Highness that the one thing I never wanted to see 
again was a mihtary parade. When I resigned 
from the army and went to a farm I was happy. 
When the rebelhon came I returned to the service 
because it was a duty. I had no thought of rank ; 
all I did was to try and make myself useful. My 
first commission as brigadier came on the unani- 
mous indorsement of the delegation from Illinois. 
I do not tliink I knew any of the members but 
Washburne, and I did not know him very well. 
It was only after Donelson that I began to see how 
important was the work that Providence devolved 
upon me. . . . You see, Donelson was our first 
clear victory, and you will remember the enthusi- 
asm that came with it. . . . When other com- 
mands came I always regretted them. When the 
bill creating the grade of Lieutenant-General was 
proposed, with my name as Lieutenant-General, I 
wrote Mr. Washburne opposing it. I did not 
want it. I found that the bill was right and I was 
wrong, when I came to command the Army of the 
Potomac — that a head was needed to the army. I 
did not want the Presidency, and have never quite 
forgiven myself for resigning the command of the 
array to accept it ; but it could not be helped. I 
owed my honors and opportunities to the Kepubli- 
can party, and if my name could aid it I was 
bound to acccjpt. The second nomination was 
almost due to me — if I may use the phrase — be- 



WORDS OF OUR HERO. 49 

cause of the bitterness of political personal op- 
ponents. My re-election was a great gratification, 

because it showed me how the country felt. 

Around the World. 

I always dreaded going to the Army of the 
Potomac. After the battle of Gettysburg I was 
told I could have the command, but I manao-cd to 
keep out of it. I had seen so many generals fall, 
one after another, like bricks in a row, that I 
shrank from it. After the battle of Mission Eidge, 
and my appointment as Lieutenant-General, and 1 
was allowed to choose my place, it could not be 
avoided. Then it seemed as if the time was ripe, 
and I had no hesitation. — Aroimd the World. 

The most troublesome men in public life, are 
those over-righteous people who see no motive in 
other people's actions but evil motives ; who be- 
lieve all public life is corrupt, and nothing is well 
done unless they do it themselves. They are nar- 
row-headed men, their two eyes so close together 
that they can look out of the same gimlet-hole 
without winking. — Arou7id the World. 

Andrew Johnson, one of the ablest of the poor 
white class, tried to assert some independence; 
but as soon as the slaveholders put their thumb 
upon him, even in the Presidency, he became 
their slave. — Aroimd the World. 



50 ULYSSES s. grant; 

I do not believe in luck in war any more than 
in luck in business. Luck is a small matter ; may 
affect a battle or a movement, but not a campaign 
or a career. — Around the World. 

Speaking of the notable men I have met in Eu- 
rope, I regard Bismarck and Gambetta as the 
greatest. I saw a good deal of Bismark in Berlin, 
and later in Gastein, and had long talks with him. 
He impresses you as a great man. 

Gambetta also impressed me greatly. I was 
not surprised, when I met him, to see the power he 
wielded over France. I should not be surprised 
at any prominence he might attain in the future. I 
was very much pleased with the Eepublican lead- 
ers in France. They seemed a superior body of 
men. My relations with them gave me great hopes 
for the future of the Eepublic. They were men 
apparently of sense, wisdom, and moderation. — 
Around the World, 

I have always had an aversion to Napoleon and 
the whole family. When I was in Denmark the 
Prince Imperial was there, and some one thought 
it might be pleasant for me t meet him. I de- 
clined, saying I did not want to see him or any of 
his family. Of course the first emperor was a 
great genius, but one of the most selfish and cruel 
men in history. Outside of his military skill, I do 



WORDS OF OUR HERO. 61 

not see a redeeming trait in his character. He 
abused France for his own ends, and brought incred- 
ible disasters upon his country to gratify his selfish 
ambition. I do not think any genius can excuse a 
crime like that. The third Napoleon was worse 
than the first, the especial enemy of America and 
liberty. Think of the misery he brought upon 
France by a war, which, under the circumstances, 
no one but a madman would have declared. I 
never doubted how the war would end, and my 
sympathies at the outset were entirely with Ger- 
many. I had no ill-will to the French people, but 
to Napoleon. After Sedan, I thought Germany 
should have made peace with France ; and I think 
that if peace had been made then, in a treaty which 
would have shown that the war was not against 
the French people, but against a tyrant and his 
dynasty, the condition of Europe would now be 
different. Germany, especially, would be in a better 
condition, without being compelled to arm every 
man, and drain the country every year of its young 
men to arm against France. . . . There exists, 
and has since the foundation of our government 
always existed, a traditional friendship between 
our people and the 'French. I had this feeling in 
common with my countrymen. But I felt at the 
same time that no people had so great an inteiest 
in the removal of Napoleonism from France as 
the French people. — Around the World. 



52 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

[From a Speech at Elgin, Scotland.] 

I am happy to say, that during the eight years 
of my Presidency it was a hope of mine, which I 
am glad to say was realized, that all differences 
between the two nations should be settled in a man- 
ner honorable to both. All the questions, I am 
glad to say, were so settled, and in my desire for 
that result, it was my aim to do what was right, 
irrespective of any other consideration whatever. 
During all the negotiations, I felt the importance 
of maintaining the friendly relations between the 
great English-speaking people of this country and 
the United States, which I believe to be essential 
to the maintenance of peace principles throughout 
the world, and I feel confident that the continu- 
ance of those relations will exercise a vast influence 
in promoting peace and civilization throughout the 
world. — Around the World. 

[From a Speech at Newcastle.] 

The President [of the Chamber of Com- 
merce] in his remarks has alluded to the personal 
friendship existing between the two nations. I will 
not say the two peoples, because we are one people ; 
but we are two nations having a common destiny, 
and that destiny will be brilliant in proportion to 
the friendship and co-operation of the brethren on 
the two sides of the water. . . . These are two 

22 



WORDS OF OUR HERO. 53 

nations which ought to be at peace with each 
other. We ought to strive to keep at peace with 
all the world besides, and by our example stop 
those wars which have devastated our own coun- 
tries, and are now devastating some countries in 
Europe. — Around the World. 



[From a Speech to the workingmen at I^ewcastle.] 

I was always a man of peace, and I have always 
advocated peace, although educated a soldier. I 
never willingly, although I have gone through two 
wars, of my own accord advocated war. I advo- 
cated what I believed to be right, and I have 
fought for it to the best of my ability, in order 
that an honorable peace might be secured. — Around 
the World, 

Now, there is one subject that has been alluded 
to here, that I do not know that I should speak upon 
at all, — I have heard it occasionally whispered since 
I have been in England, — and that is, the great 
advantages that would accrue to the United States 
if free trade should only be established. I have a 
sort of recollection, through reading, that England 
herself had a protective tariff until she had manu- 
factories somewhat established. I think w^e are 
rapidly progressing in the way of establishing 
manufactories ourselves, and I believe we shall 



54 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

become one of the greatest free-trade nations on 
the face of the earth ; and when we both come to 
be free-traders, I think that probably the balance of 
the nations had better stand aside, and not contend 
with us at all in the markets of the world. — 
Around the World. 

[From a Conversation with Bismarck.] 

I regard Sheridan as not only one of the great 
soldiers of our war, but one of the great sol- 
diers of the world, — as a man who is fit for the 
hidiest commands. No better general ever lived 

than Sheridan. 

. . • • - • • 

The truth is, I am more of a farmer than a sol- 
dier. I take little or no interest in military 
affairs, and, although I entered the army thirty- 
five years ago, and have been in two wars, in 
Mexico as a young lieutenant, and later, I never 
went into the army without regret, and never re- 
tired without pleasure. — Around the World, 

[The following conversation took place between General 

Grant and Bismarck.] 

" You had to save the Union just as we had to 

save Germany." 

" Not only save the Union, but destroy slavery." 
" I suppose, however, the Union was the real 

sentiment, the dominant sentiment ? " 



WOEDS OF OUR HERO. 65 

" In the beginning, yes ; but as soon as slavery 
fired upon the flag, it was felt, we all felt, even 
those who did not object to slaves, that slavery 
must be destroyed. We felt that it was a stain to 
the Union that men should be bought and sold like 
cattle." 

" I suppose if you had had a large army at the 
beo'inninof of the war it would have ended in a 
much shorter time ? " 

" We might have had no war at all ; but we 
cannot tell. Our war had many strange features ; 
there were many things which seemed odd enough 
at the time, but which now seem providential. If 
we had had a larger regular army, as it was then 
constituted, it might have gone with the South. 
In fact, the Southern feeling in the army among 
high officers was so strong that when the war 
broke out the army dissolved. We had no army. 
Then we had to organize one. A great com- 
mander like Sherman or Sheridan even then mis^ht 
have organized an army and put down the rebel- 
lion in six months or a year, or, at the farthest, 
two years. But that would have saved slavery, 
perhaps, and slavery meant the germs of new re- 
beUion. There had to be an end of slavery. 
Then we were fighting an enemy with whom we 
could not make a peace. We had to destroy him. 
No convention, no treaty was possible, only de- 
struction." 



J J > 



56 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

" It was a long war, and a great work well 
done, and I suppose it means a long peace." 
"I believe so." — Aroimd the World. 

[From a letter to Governor Chamberlain, of South Carolina, 

July 2G, 1876.] 

Too long denial of guaranteed right is sure to 
lead to revolution, bloody revolution, where suffer- 
ing must fall upon the innocent as well as the guilty. 

[From a Speech at Galveston, Texas, March 25, 1880.] 

It was my fortune, more than a third of 

a century ago, to visit Texas as Second Lieutenant, 
and to have been one of those who went into the 
conflict which was to settle the boundary of Texas. 
I am glad to come back now on this occasion to be- 
hold the territory which is an empire in itself, and 
larger than some of the empires of Europe. I wish 
for the people of Texas, as I do for the people of 
the entire South, that they may go on developing 
their resources, and become great and powerful, and 
in their prosperity forget, as the worthy Mayor 
expressed it, that there is a boundary between the 
J^orth and South. I am sure we will all be happier 
and much more prosperous when the day comes 
that there shall be no sectional feeling. Let any 
American, who can travel abroad, as I have done, 
and with the opportunity of witnessing what there 
is to be seen that I have had, and he will return to 



WOllDS OF OUK HERO. 57 

America a better American and a better citizen than 
when he went away. He will return more in love 
with his own country. Far be it from me to find 
fault with any of the European Governments. I 
was well received at their hands on every side, by 
every nation in Europe, but with their dense pop- 
ulation and their worn-out soil it takes a great deal 
of government to enable the people to get from the 
soil a bare subsistence. Here we have rich virgin 
soil, with room enough for all of us to expand and 
live, with the use of very little government. I do 
hope we long may be able to get along happily and 
contentedly without being too much governed." 

[From a Speech at Warren, Ohio, September 28, 1880.] 

In view of the known character and ability of the 
speaker who is to address you to-day, and his long 
public career and association with the leading states- 
men of this country for the past twenty years, it 
w^ould not be becoming in me to detain you with 
many remarks of my own. But it may be proper 
for me to account to you on the first occasion of 
my presiding at political meetings for the faith that 
is in me. 

I am a Eepublican, as the two great political 
parties are now divided, because the Eepublican 
party is a National party, seeking the greatest good 
for the greatest number of citizens. There is not 
a precinct in tliis vast Nation where a Democrat 



58 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

cannot cast his ballot and have it counted as cast. 
No matter what the prominence of the opposite 
party, he can proclaim his poKtical opinions, even 
if he is only one among a thousand, without fear 
and without proscription on account of his opinions. 
There are fourteen States, and locahties in some 
other States, where Eepublicans have not this j)riv- 
ilege. 

This is one reason why I am a Republican. But 
I am a Repubhcan for many other reasons. The 
Eepubhcan party assures protection to life and 
property, the pubhc credit and the payment of the 
debts of the Government, State, county, or muni- 
cipality so far as it can control. The Democratic 
party does not promise this ; if it does, it has 
broken its promises to the extent of hundji-eds of 
millions, as many Northern Democrats can testify 
to their sorrow. I am a Repubhcan, as between the 
existing parties, because it fosters the production 
of the field and farm and of manufactories, and it 
encourages the general education of the poor as 
well as the rich. The Democratic party discour- 
ages all these when in absolute power. The Re- 
publican party is a party of progress and of liber- 
ahty toward its opponents. It encourages the 
poor to strive to better their children, to enable 
them to compete successfully with their more for- 
tunate associates, and, in fine, it secures an entire 
equality before the law of every citizen, no matter 



WORDS OF OUR HERO. 59 

what his race, nationality, or previous condition. 
It tolerates no privileged class. Every one has the 
opportunity to make himself all he is capable of. 

Ladies and gentlemen, do you believe this can 
be truthfully said in the greater part of fourteen 
of the States of this Union to-day which the 
Democratic party controls absolutely? The Re- 
publican party is a party of principles, the same 
principles prevailing wherever it has a foot- 
hold. The Democratic party is united in but one 
thing, and that is in getting control of the Govern- 
ment in all its branches. It is for internal im- 
provement at the expense of the Government in 
one section and against this in another. It favors 
repudiation of solemn obligations in one section, 
and honest payment of its debts in another, where 
public opinion will not tolerate any other view. 
It favors fiat money in one place and good money 
in another. Finally, it favors the pooling of all 
issues not favored by the Republicans, to the end 
that it may secure the one principle upon wliich 
the party is a most harmonious unit, namely, get- 
tmg control of the Government in all its branches. 

I have been in some part of every State lately in 
rebellion, within the last year. I was most hospi- 
tably received at every place where I stopped. My 
receptions were not by the Union class alone, but 
by all classes, without distinction. I had a free 
talk with many who were against me in the war, 



60 ULYSSES S. GKANT. 

and wlio have been against tlie Eopublican party 
ever since. They were in all instances reasonable 
men, judged by what they said. I believed then 
and believe now that they sincerely want a break- 
up in this "Sohd South " pohtical condition. They 
see that it is to their pecuniary interest as well as 
to their happiness that there should be harmony 
and confidence between all sections. They want 
to break away from the slavery which binds them 
to a party name. They want a pretext that enough 
of them can unite upon to make it respectable. 
Once started, the Solid South will go as Ku- 
kluxism did before, as is so admirably told by 
Judge Tourgee in his "Fool's Errand." When the 
break comes those who start it will be astonished 
to find how many of their friends have been in 
favor of it for a long time, and have only been 
waiting to see some one take the lead. This desir- 
able solution can only be attained by the defeat 
and continued defeat of the Democratic party as 
now constituted. 

[Speech in New York, November 20, 1880.] 

Now, in regard to the future of myself, which 
has been alluded to here, I am entirely satisfied 
as I am to-day. I am not one of those who cry 
out against the republic, and charge it with being 
ungrateful. I am sure that, as regards the Amer- 
ican people, as a nation ami as individuals, I have 



WOKDS OF OUR HEEO. 61 

every reason under the sun, if any person really 
has, to be satisfied with their treatment of me. 

[Speech in New York, December 1, 1880.] 

The government owes much to the service of its 
volunteer soldiers. Too much credit cannot be 
paid them. The very fact that the country can 
raise so great and good an army, in such an emer- 
gency as our late civil war, is a proof that we 
have institutions in which all the people have an 
equal part ; that we have a government, not for 
the privileged class, but for the people and by the 
people. When the peaceful citizen changes to the 
soldier, he does so readily, feeling that he is fight- 
ing for himself when he is fighting for his govern- 
ment. I hope and feel that the country will not 
again have to call upon such numbers of its citi- 
zens for support. I am confident that we will not 
have another civil war, but should the menaces of 
a foreign foe cause a call to arms, we will find 
the same support and readiness in organizing an 
army as in 1861. 



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